Toy assembly unit and transformable toy

ABSTRACT

An assembly unit for a toy capable of preventing a pair of side walls thereof surrounding a recessed part for engagement from cracking. A plurality of part units are connected to each other through a projected part ( 109 ) for engagement and the recessed part ( 111 ) for engagement. The projected part ( 109 ) for engagement comprises a base ( 113 ), a plate-like part ( 115 ) extending in a direction apart from the base, and an engagement part side extension part ( 117 ) formed at the tip of the plate-like part. The recessed part ( 111 ) for engagement comprises the pair of side walls ( 121 ) with flexibility integrally having, at its tip part, engaged part side extension parts ( 119 ) for stopping the extraction of the engagement part side extension part ( 117 ) and a bottom wall ( 123 ) connecting the base parts of these pair of side walls to each other. A through hole ( 129 ) extending along a gap ( 127 ) formed between the pair of engaged part side extension parts ( 119 ) formed on the pair of side walls ( 121 ) and passed through the bottom wall ( 123 ) in a direction facing the gap is formed in the bottom wall ( 123 ) forming the recessed part ( 111 ) for engagement.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a toy assembly unit including a firstcomponent unit and a second component unit that are connected via aconnecting mechanism, and also relates to a transformable toy using thesame.

BACKGROUND ART

A toy assembly unit of this kind and a transformable toy using the samehave been proposed by the applicant in Japanese Patent Application No.2003-423874. In the toy field, there are no prior patent applicationswhich have proposed the configuration of a connecting mechanism employedin the toy assembly unit and the transformable toy proposed in JapanesePatent Application No. 2003-423874.

As shown in FIG. 8, the toy assembly unit comprises a first componentunit 1 and a pair of second component units 5. The first component unit1 includes two engaging portions 3 that are disposed separately fromeach other. The pair of second component units 5 each include an engagedportion 7 into which the engaging portion 3 is detachably engaged.

The engaging portion 3 is constituted by one of an engagement raisedportion 9 and an engagement depressed portion 11 into which theengagement raised portion 9 is detachably engaged. The engaged portion 7is constituted by the other of the engagement raised portion 9 and theengagement depressed portion 11. In FIG. 8, the engaging portion 3 isconstituted by the engagement raised portion 9, and the engaged portion7 is constituted by the engagement depressed portion 11.

The engagement raised portion 9 includes a plate-like base 13, aplate-like portion 15 integrally formed with the base 13 andorthogonally extending away therefrom in a plate-like shape, and acylindrical expanded portion 17 integrally formed with the plate-likeportion 15 in such a manner that the expanded portion 15 is disposedalong an end portion of the plate-like portion 15. The engagementdepressed portion 11 is formed, being surrounded by a pair of side walls21, 21 which have flexibility and are disposed at a given interval tosandwich the plate-like portion 15 and the expanded portiontherebetween, and a bottom wall 23 connecting base portions of the pairof side walls 21, 21, each of the side walls 21, 21 having a projectingportion 19 formed integrally therewith at an end portion thereof forpreventing the expanded portion 17 from coming off.

The engagement raised portion 9 and the engagement depressed portion 11are formed with a synthetic resin material. When engaging the engagementraised portion 9 with the engagement depressed portion 11, the expandedportion 17 of the engagement raised portion 9 is pushed into between theprojecting portions 19, 19 respectively located on either side of theinterval. Then the expanded portion 17 is inserted between theprojecting portions 19,19 by bending outwardly the end portions of thepair of side walls 21, 21 by means of the inserted expanded portion 17.In this manner, the plate-like portion 15 of the engagement raisedportion 9 is sandwiched between the projecting portions 19, 19respectively located on the either side, thereby preventing the expandedportion 17 from coming off. Thus, the engaging portion gets intoengagement with the engaged portion.

[Patent Document 1]

Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-423874 DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTIONProblems to be Solved by the Invention

In the conventional engagement depressed portion 11, the pair of sidewalls 21, 21, or the bottom wall 23 may be cracked if the expandedportion 17 of the engagement raised portion 9 is repeatedly pushed intoand pulled out from between the projecting portions 19, 19 of theengagement depressed portion 11, namely, if engagement/disengagement isrepeated.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a toyassembly unit in which a bottom wall or base portions of a pair of sidewalls of an engagement depressed portion can be prevented from beingcracked even if engagement/disengagement is repeated.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a toy assemblyunit in which an expanded portion of an engagement raised portion caneasily be inserted into between projecting portions of an engagementdepressed portion respectively located on the either side at alongitudinal end thereof.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a toyassembly unit in which end portions of a pair of side walls of anengagement depressed portion can easily be bent outwardly, andmechanical strength of a bottom wall can be improved.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a toyassembly unit in which a pair of side walls of an engagement depressedportion can easily be bent.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide atransformable toy in which a bottom wall or base portions of a pair ofside walls of an engagement depressed portion in a connecting mechanismcan be prevented from being cracked.

Means of Solving the Problem

A toy assembly unit according to an embodiment of the present inventioncomprises a first component unit including an engaging portion and asecond component unit including an engaged portion into which theengaging portion is detachably engaged. The engaging portion isconstituted by one of an engagement raised portion and an engagementdepressed portion. The engaged portion is constituted by the other ofthe engagement raised portion and the engagement depressed portion. Theengagement raised portion includes a base, a plate-like portionintegrally formed with the base and extending away therefrom, and anexpanded portion integrally formed with the plate-like portion in such amanner that the expanded portion is disposed along an end portion of theplate-like portion. The engagement depressed portion is formed, beingsurrounded by a pair of side walls and a bottom wall. The pair of sidewalls have flexibility and are disposed at a given interval to sandwichthe plate-like portion and the expanded portion therebetween. The bottomwall connects base portions of the pair of side walls, each of the sidewalls having a projecting portion formed integrally therewith at an endportion thereof for preventing the expanded portion from coming off. Inparticular, the bottom wall has one or more through-holes which extendalong a gap formed between the pair of projecting portions respectivelyformed with the pair of side walls, and pass through the bottom walltoward the gap.

When one or more through holes are provided in the bottom wallconstituting the engagement depressed portion, portions of the bottomwall in the periphery of the through holes may easily be curved convexlytoward the above-mentioned gap so as to narrow the interval or gap in awidth direction, thereby bending end portions of the pair of side wallsoutwardly. As a result, the pair of side walls can be bent more easilythan ever, thereby preventing the bottom wall and the pair of side wallsof the engagement depressed portion from being cracked when pushing orpuling out the expanded portion of the engagement raised portion into orfrom between the projecting portions of the engagement depressed portionrespectively located on either side of the interval or gap. Therefore,according to the present invention, the life of the engagement depressedportion can be extended and reliability can be increased.

Preferably, the length of the projecting portion in a direction alongthe gap is smaller than that of the pair of side walls in the directionalong the gap, and the projecting portions do not exist at both ends, inthe direction along the gap, of the end portions of the side walls. Withsuch configuration, once one end of the expanded portion of theengagement raised portion has got into a space which exists on bothsides of the end portions of the side walls in the direction along thegap, where the projecting portions do not exist, the engagement raisedportion can smoothly be inserted into between the pair of projectingportions. In this manner, the engagement raised portion can be engagedwith or inserted into the engagement depressed portion with nodifficulty even if both portions are not exactly opposed to each other.

Preferably, a plurality of through holes are formed side by side alongthe gap. With such arrangement, namely, due to the existence of thethrough holes in the bottom wall, the end portions of the pair of sidewalls of the engagement depressed portion can readily be bent outwardly.

Preferably, the pair of side walls and the bottom wall are integrallyformed with a synthetic resin material. In the above-mentionedconfiguration, flexibility of the synthetic resin material can beutilized most, thereby readily bending outwardly the pair of side wallspartially surrounding the engagement depressed portion.

The present invention is, of course, applicable to a transformable toycomprising a plurality of component units and one or more connectingmechanisms respectively including an engaging portion and an engagedportion to be engaged with the engaging portion for connecting thecomponent units to each other. The transformable toy is transformed fromone figure into another figure by changing a combination of theplurality of component units connected to each other, or replacing someof the component units with a prepared separate component unit using theconnecting mechanism, or adding a prepared separate component unit tothe plurality of component units using the connecting mechanism.

In a transformable toy according to an embodiment of the presentinvention, the engaging portion is constituted by one of an engagementraised portion and an engagement depressed portion; and the engagedportion is constituted by the other of the engagement raised portion andthe engagement depressed portion. The engagement raised portion includesa base, a plate-like portion integrally formed with the base andextending away therefrom, and an expanded portion integrally formed withthe plate-like portion in such a manner that the expanded portion isdisposed along an end portion of the plate-like portion. The engagementdepressed portion is formed, being surrounded by a pair of side wallswhich have flexibility and are disposed at a given interval to sandwichthe plate-like portion and the expanded portion therebetween; and abottom wall connecting base portions of the pair of side walls, each ofthe side walls having a projecting portion formed integrally therewithat an end portion thereof for preventing the expanded portion fromcoming off. The bottom wall has one or more through-holes which extendalong a gap formed between the pair of projecting portions respectivelyformed with the pair of side walls, and pass through the bottom walltoward the gap.

Preferably, in the transformable toy according to the present invention,the length of the projecting portion in a direction along the gap issmaller than that of the pair of side walls in the direction along thegap, and the projecting portions do not exist at both ends, in thedirection along the gap, of the end portions of the pair of side walls.Preferably, a plurality of the through-holes are formed side by sidealong the gap. Preferably, the pair of side walls and the bottom wallare integrally formed with a synthetic resin material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing a configuration of an engagingportion and an engaged portion used for a toy assembly unit according toan embodiment in the best mode for carrying out the present invention,and FIG. 1B is a reversed perspective view of FIG. 1A.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, and 2F are a front view, a plan view, a bottomview, a left side view, a right side view, and a cross-sectional viewtaken along line A-A of FIG. 2B of the engaged portion used in thepresent embodiment.

FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and 3D are explanatory views showing how the engagingportion is inserted into the engaged portion in the present embodiment.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are explanatory views showing how the engaging portionis inserted into one end, in a longitudinal direction, of the engagedportion.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a core robot toy.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are a front view and a cross-sectional view taken alongline B-B of a large robot toy that does not incorporate the core robottoy therein.

FIG. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a principalconfiguration of the large robot toy incorporating the core robot toytherein.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a principal configuration of aconventional toy assembly unit.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The best mode for carrying out the invention will be described in detailhereinafter with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1A and 1B to FIGS. 4A and 4B show one embodiment in the best modefor carrying out the present invention. FIG. 1A is a perspective viewshowing a configuration of an engaging portion and an engaged portionused for a toy assembly unit of the present embodiment, and FIG. 1B is areversed perspective view of FIG. 1A. FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E and 2Fare a front view, a plan view, a bottom view, a left side view, a rightside view, and a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 2B ofthe engaged portion used in the present embodiment. FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and3D are explanatory views showing how the engaging portion is insertedinto the engaged portion used in the present embodiment. FIGS. 4A and 4Bare explanatory views showing how the engaging portion is inserted intoone end, in the longitudinal direction, of the engaged portion in thepresent embodiment. In the present embodiment, components and portionssimilar to those of the conventional art as shown in FIG. 8 have theirreference numerals calculated by adding a number of 100 to thecorresponding reference numerals shown in FIG. 8.

In the present embodiment, an engagement raised portion 109 constitutesthe engaging portion provided in a first component unit, not shown, andan engagement depressed portion 111 constitutes the engaged portionprovided in a second component unit, not shown.

The engagement raised portion 109 is integrally formed with a syntheticresin material. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the engagement raisedportion 109 includes a plate-like base 113, a plate-like portion 115integrally formed with the base 113 and extending orthogonally awaytherefrom, and a cylindrical expanded portion 117 integrally formed withthe plate-like portion 115 in such a manner that the expanded portion117 is disposed along an end portion of the plate-like portion 115.

The engagement depressed portion 111 is formed, being surrounded by apair of side walls 121,121 which have flexibility and a bottom wall 123,as shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B and FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, and 2F. The pairof side walls 121,121 are opposed to each other at a given interval orgap 125. The pair of side walls 121,121 sandwich the plate-like portion115 and the expanded portion 117 of the engagement raised portion 109therebetween. Each of the side walls 121, 121 has a projecting portion119 formed integrally therewith at an end portion thereof for preventingthe expanded portion 117 from coming off. The bottom wall 123 connectsbase portions of the pair of side walls 121,121. The above-mentionedinterval or gap 125 is defined so that the expanded portion 117 may bereceived between the pair of side walls 121,121.

The bottom wall 123 constituting the engagement depressed portion 111has a through hole 129 of a rectangular shape. The through hole 129extends along a gap 127 formed between the pair of projecting portions119 respectively formed with the pair of side walls 121,121, and passesthrough the bottom wall 123 toward the gap 127.

The length of the projecting portion 119 in a direction along the gap127 is smaller than that of the pair of side walls 121, 121 in thedirection along the gap 125. As a result, the projecting portions 119 donot exist at both ends, in the direction along the gap 125, of the endportions of the side walls 121, 121. Thus, spaces (slits) 131, 131 areformed.

The pair of side walls 121,121 and the bottom wall 123, as thusconstituted, are integrally formed with a synthetic resin material. Theengagement raised portion 109 is also integrally formed with thesynthetic resin material. A typical example of the synthetic resinmaterials that form the engagement raised portion 109 and engagementdepressed portion 111 is polyacetal (POM).

As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the expanded portion 117 of the engagementraised portion 109 is pushed into between the projecting portions119,119 of the engagement depressed portion 111, respectively located oneither side of the interval or gap. Then, as shown in FIG. 3C, theexpanded portion 117 is inserted between the projecting portions 119,119when the end portions of the pair of side walls 121, 121 are bentoutwardly by the expanded portion 117. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 3D,the plate-like portion 115 of the engagement raised portion 109 islocated between the projecting portions 119,119 respectively located onthe either side. The expanded portion 117 is received in the interval orgap 125 between the pair of side walls 121,121, and the expanded portion117 is prevented from coming off due to the existence of the projectingportions 119,119. In this manner, the engagement of engagement raisedportion 109 and the engagement depressed portion 111 is completed.

In the toy assembly unit thus configured, since the bottom wall 123partially surrounding the engagement depressed portion 111 has onethrough-hole 129 which extends along the gap 127 formed between the pairof projecting portions 119, 119, and passes through the bottom wall 123toward the gap 127, the bottom wall 123 curves convexly toward the gap127 when the end portions of the pair of side walls 121,121 are bentoutwardly. As a result, the pair of side walls 121,121 are easily bentoutwardly, thus preventing the bottom wall 123 and the base portions ofthe pair of side walls 121,121 of the engagement depressed portion 111from being cracked when the expanded portion 117 of the engagementraised portion 109 is inserted between the projecting portions 119,119of the engagement depressed portion 111 respectively located on theeither side. Consequently, the life of the engagement depressed portion111 is extended and reliability is increased.

Once one end of the expanded portion 117 of the engagement raisedportion 109 has got into one of spaces 131, 131 respectively formed oneither side of the end portions of the pair of side walls 121, 121 inthe direction along the interval or gap 125, where the projectingportions do not exist, the engagement raised portion 109 is smoothlyinserted between the pair of projecting portions 119, 119. In thismanner, the engagement raised portion 109 can readily be engaged with orinserted into the engagement depressed portion 111 with no difficultyeven if both portions are not exactly opposed to each other.

Preferably, a plurality of through holes 129 may be formed side by sidein the bottom wall 123 at a given interval along the gap 127. In thismanner, flexibility of the bottom wall 123 is adjustable by defining thenumber of the plurality of through hole 129. Since portions between theadjoining through holes 129 formed in the bottom wall 123 are connectedto each other in a width direction thereof, mechanical strength of thebottom wall 123 is also adjustable by appropriately determining thenumber of the through holes.

FIGS. 5 to 7 illustrate how the connecting mechanism, which isconstituted by the above-mentioned engagement raised portion 109 andengagement depressed portion 111, is applied to a transformable toy inorder to connect a core robot toy and a large robot toy. FIG. 5 is afront view of the core robot toy, and FIGS. 6A and 6B are a front viewand a cross-sectional side view taken along line B-B of the large robottoy that does not incorporate the core robot toy therein. FIG. 7 is apartial vertical cross-sectional view showing the principalconfiguration of the large robot toy incorporating the core robot toytherein.

In the present embodiment, the transformable toy is transformed into thelarge robot toy shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B by mounting a plurality ofdivided components, which have been obtained by dividing another robottoy, onto the core robot toy shown in FIG. 5, which works as the core ofthe large robot toy.

As shown in FIG. 5, the core robot toy 133 is a humanoid robot toyincluding a head section 135, a body section 137 holding the headsection 135 thereon, a pair of arm sections 139 respectively mounted onthe right/left sides of the body section 137 via a joint portion, and apair of leg sections 141 respectively mounted on the lower portions ofthe arm sections 139 via another joint portion. Although not shown, thehead section 135 is configured to go downward when it is pushed down,and to fall backward to be located behind the body section 137 by meansof a moving/turning mechanism supporting a neck section disposed belowthe head section 135. A light-emitting display portion 138 is mounted onthe front side of the body section 137. The inside of the body section137 is hollow, and an opening is provided in the upper portion of thebody section 137. The opening is covered by a component of themoving/turning mechanism. A switch and a feeder circuit are disposedinside the opening. The switch is set to ON when the head section 135 ispushed down. The feeder circuit supplies electric power to thelight-emitting display portion 138 from a battery when the switch isactivated. When the head section 135 falls backward, the component ofthe moving/turning mechanism is also moved so that the upper portion ofthe body section 137 is opened to expose the switch. Each leg section141 includes a thigh section 141 a, a shin section 141 b, and a footsection 141 c. The thigh section 141 a is connected to the body section137 via a joint portion 141 d, and the thigh section 141 a and the shinsection 141 b are mutually connected via a joint portion 141 e. Theengagement depressed portion 111 is disposed in the front side of thethigh section 141 a in such a manner that the gap 127 extends in avertical direction of the illustration, as shown in FIG. 5. Each legsection 141 can be bent so as to be disposed on the back side of thebody section 137 as described later.

The large robot toy 143 is constituted by mounting a plurality ofdivided components 145,147, which have been obtained by dividing anotherrobot toy into components, onto the core robot toy 133 used as a core,as shown in FIGS. 6A, 6B, and FIG. 7. Namely, as shown in FIG. 7, thecore robot toy is compactly folded, and the divided component 145 isremovably connected to an upper portion of the folded core robot toy 133via a male-and-female connecting mechanism, and the divided component147 is removably connected to a lower portion of the folded core robottoy 133 via a connecting mechanism that is constituted by the engagementdepressed portion 111 disposed in the core robot toy 133 and theengagement raised portion 109 disposed in the divided component 147.

The divided component 145 includes a box-shaped assembly component 145 athat works as a chest section, another box-shaped assembly component 145b disposed on the front side of the assembly component 145 a, anassembly component 145 c disposed on an upper portion of the assemblycomponent 145 a to work as a head section, and assembly components 145 ethat are attached to both sides of the assembly component 145 a viajoint portions 145 d to work as arm sections. The lower portion of thebox-shaped assembly component 145 a is removably connected to the upperportion of the folded core robot toy 133 via the male-and-femaleconnecting mechanism, not shown.

The divided component 147 is constituted by a box-shaped assemblycomponent 147 a that works as a waist and a pair of assembly components147 b connected to lower portions of both sides of the assemblycomponent 147 a.

The core robot toy 133 is folded and incorporated in the large robot toy143, with the light-emitting display portion 138 being exposed frombetween the assembly component 145 a and the assembly component 147 a,or being exposed through a window portion, not shown, provided in theassembly component 145 a.

The divided component 145 is configured to allow the switch disposed inthe core robot toy 133 to be operated by operating an operation portion149 of the divided component 145 when the core robot toy 133 is mountedwith the divided components 145, 147 to form the large robot toy 143.The divided component 145 including the operation portion 149incorporates an operation mechanism 151 that allows direct operation ofthe switch when the divided component 145 is mounted on the core robottoy 133. The operation mechanism 151 is divided into three operationmechanism portions 151 a, 151 b, and 151 c which are included in theassembly components 145 a and 145 b. The operation mechanism portion 151a is included in the assembly component 145 a and is configured to moveup and down longitudinally so as to press a keytop of the switch. Theoperation mechanism portion 151 b is included in the assembly component145 a and is configured to move laterally in a direction orthogonal toan extending direction of the operation mechanism portion 151 a so thatthe operation mechanism 151 b is pushed to slide, which in turn pushesdown the operation mechanism portion 151 a. The operation mechanismportion 151 c is included in the assembly component 145 b and is alignedwith a base end of the operation mechanism portion 151 b so thatpressing the operation mechanism portion 151 c may move backward theoperation mechanism 151 b.

The assembly component 145 b, which is disposed in the front side of thedivided component 145 that constitutes the chest section, is configuredin the shape of a lion head.

In the present embodiment, when the inside of a widely opened mouth ofthe lion head is lighted by emission of the light-emitting displayportion 138 disposed in the core robot toy 133, the large robot toy 143is in a light-emitting display state.

The engagement raised portion 109 and the engagement depressed portion111 may be disposed interchangeably.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

According to the present invention, since one or more through holes areformed in the bottom wall that constitutes the engagement depressedportion, portions of the bottom wall in the periphery of the throughholes may easily be curved convexly toward the gap, and the gap isaccordingly narrowed. Namely, the pair of side walls may be bent moreeasily than ever. This prevents the bottom wall and the pair of sidewalls of the engagement depressed portion from being cracked whenpushing or pulling out the expanded portion of the engagement raisedportion into or from between the projecting portions of the engagementdepressed portion respectively located on either side of the gap.According to the present invention, the life of the engagement depressedportion is extended and reliability is increased.

1. A toy assembly unit comprising a first component unit including anengaging portion and a second component unit including an engagedportion into which the engaging portion is detachably engaged, theengaging portion being constituted by one of an engagement raisedportion and an engagement depressed portion; and the engaged portionbeing constituted by the other of the engagement raised portion and theengagement depressed portion, the engagement raised portion including abase, a plate-like portion integrally formed with the base and extendingaway therefrom, and an expanded portion integrally formed with theplate-like portion in such a manner that the expanded portion isdisposed along an end portion of the plate-like portion, the engagementdepressed portion being formed by being surrounded by a pair of sidewalls which have flexibility and are disposed at a given interval tosandwich the plate-like portion and the expanded portion therebetween;and a bottom wall connecting base portions of the pair of side walls,each of the side walls having a projecting portion formed integrallytherewith at an end portion thereof for preventing the expanded portionfrom coming off, the bottom wall having one or more through-holes whichextend along a gap formed between the pair of projecting portionsrespectively formed with the pair of side walls, and pass through thebottom wall toward the gap.
 2. The toy assembly unit according to claim1, wherein the length of the projecting portion in a direction along thegap is smaller than that of the pair of side walls in the directionalong the gap, and the projecting portions do not exist at both ends, inthe direction along the gap, of the end portions of the pair of the sidewalls.
 3. The toy assembly unit according to claim 2, wherein the pairof side walls and the bottom wall are integrally formed with a syntheticresin material.
 4. The toy assembly unit according to claim 1, wherein aplurality of the through-holes are formed side by side along the gap. 5.The toy assembly unit according to claim 1, wherein the pair of sidewalls and the bottom wall are integrally formed with a synthetic resinmaterial.
 6. A transformable toy comprising a plurality of componentunits and one or more connecting mechanisms respectively including anengaging portion and an engaged portion to be engaged with the engagingportion to connect the component units to each other, the transformabletoy being transformed from one figure into another figure by changing acombination of the plurality of component units connected to each other,or replacing some of the component units with a prepared separatecomponent unit using the connecting mechanism, or adding a preparedseparate component unit to the plurality of component units using theconnecting mechanism, the engaging portion being constituted by one ofan engagement raised portion and an engagement depressed portion; andthe engaged portion being constituted by the other of the engagementraised portion and the engagement depressed portion, the engagementraised portion including a base, a plate-like portion integrally formedwith the base and extending away therefrom, and an expanded portionintegrally formed with the plate-like portion in such a manner that theexpanded portion is disposed along an end portion of the plate-likeportion, the engagement depressed portion being formed by beingsurrounded by a pair of side walls which have flexibility and aredisposed at a given interval to sandwich the plate-like portion and theexpanded portion therebetween; and a bottom wall connecting baseportions of the pair of side walls, each of the side walls having aprojecting portion formed integrally therewith at an end portion thereoffor preventing the expanded portion from coming off, the bottom wallhaving one or more through-holes which extend along a gap formed betweenthe pair of projecting portions respectively formed with the pair ofside walls, and pass through the bottom wall toward the gap.
 7. Thetransformable toy according to claim 6, wherein the length of theprojecting portion in a direction along the gap is smaller than that ofthe pair of side walls in the direction along the gap, and theprojecting portions do not exist at both ends, in the direction alongthe gap, of the end portions of the pair of side walls.
 8. Thetransformable toy according to claim 7, wherein the pair of side wallsand the bottom wall are integrally formed with a synthetic resinmaterial.
 9. The transformable toy according to claim 6, wherein aplurality of the through-holes are formed side by side along the gap.10. The transformable toy according to claim 6, wherein the pair of sidewalls and the bottom wall are integrally formed with a synthetic resinmaterial.